My Heart's Best Treasure
by Katerie T. Phillips
Summary: Taybur hadn't yet made his peace. He wondered if he ever would.


Taybur Sibigat stood in his customary place alongside the throne as Queen Dovasary passed her judgment, watchful of all that went on in the throne room. He knew he didn't really need to bother with paying attention, what with all the precautions set up around the room. He and Aly had spent hours planning them as soon as the rebellion was won, and they had only kept adding more and more layers since then. He had initially wanted the set-up he was used to: armed guards standing along the walls and ceilings at the ready with crossbows and swords should ever a need arise and a few watching spells. Aly had argued it would be better to lure out would-be attackers by showing no visible guards or traps. Anyone stupid enough to try anything would be caught by hidden traps, both magical mechanical. Most of the traps were even non-fatal so that those caught could be held for questioning. When setting up the traps, Aly had been amazingly precise and demanded absolute perfection. Anything that did not meet with her very high standards was removed and they started that trap again. He wondered if perhaps he had had someone with her eye for detail while the _Rittevon_ was being built….

Of course, both Taybur and Aly knew their traps were not infallible, which was why Taybur and the queen were currently surrounded by servants that were incredibly gifted with throwing knives and hand-to-hand combat. They were strategically placed around the woman currently on trial and the angry merchant that had accused her. If she should get desperate or he angry enough to do anything rash, either one would be immobilized with incredible efficiency. Not that he thought that would needed today. Dove had solved her case with her usual graceful balance of punishment at mercy: the thief would be forced to work without payment until her debt was paid, but then she could keep that work. Thus she undid the damage caused by her crime and would have a livelihood to prevent her once again resorting to thievery for food. The woman stared gratefully and lovingly at Dove, commending her benevolence and wisdom. The merchant was nodding respectfully. He wondered if those looks might have ever been directed at….

Dove nodded graciously, accepting the woman's praise, as if her regard was as important to the queen as any noble's. There would be three more trials that afternoon: two of them being disagreements between raka, and the third being a luarin noble accusing a raka noble of taking more than their fair share of land. In another time, Taybur knew the first two would have been perfunctory, and everyone would have known the outcome of the third before it started. Now, each would be given its due attention and no one could guess their outcomes. The hatred between the two peoples was slowly dissolving as more and more citizens realized that their new monarch would not treat anyone differently for the color of their skin. Maybe if the hatred between the luarin and raka hadn't been so deep-seated at the time more people would have mourned when….

Once the trials were done, the queen stood, stretched, and made her way down the dias‒easily but still cautiously avoiding the spots that would trigger the traps. Taybur followed. As she made her way to the Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures for her weekly lunch with her advisors, she was accosted by three small children, all shrieking with delight to see their "Aunty Dove" and vying for her attention as they tried to show her the new tricks their mother and father had taught them. Taybur smiled at their antics-they were so full of energy and so free. Their parents had long since given up trying to teach them to restrain their energy when there was no harm in letting it out. They were among friends, no one would see their childishness as a weakness, and no one would try to deny these children the happiness of childhood. Perhaps if the regents had more friends and less enemies they would have let...

During lunch, Aly told Dove was intelligence she thought she needed to know, which Taybur would wager probably amounted to about a tenth of all the information she had on current events. Nawat gave a report on the conditions of the outlying cities‒they had mages who could also spread messages, but the crows saw more and could relay messages almost as quickly. Chenaol, Fesgao, and Taybur had nothing to report at the time: the city was no longer in a state of unrest, and the queen was still alive, so everyone knew they were doing their jobs. The mage, Ysul, signed that repairs of the harbour were going very well as carpenters worked with the raka's subtle magic to make buildings that would be strong against sea storms, resistant to fire, and last much longer than a house built without magical reinforcement. It was a quiet, helpful magic, just as Ysul was a quiet, helpful man. Perhaps if the Rittevons had employed mages like him….

Lunch being done, Taybur escorted Dove to her private meeting rooms where she would be discussing matters of the Crown's purse with the country's merchants for the rest of the afternoon. The treasury was slowly recovering after Imajane and Rubinyan had all but emptied it, but after Dove had lowered taxes, its recovery would be a slow one. For the time being, she would need to rely on the merchants selling her their goods at a discount, as was her right as queen. She was trying to find the best way to do so that would spread out the burden among many of them so none of them really felt it. The fact that she was so well versed in economics and had been making constant inquiries about the Isles crop yield for sometime should work to her advantage. It would also help that she knew most of the merchants personally. For someone so young, she was surprisingly intelligent and well-connected. Taybur wondered, if he had ever reached that age...

Dove dismissed him once they reached the meeting room. There were other guards inside and the room itself was covered in another safety net of spells. Not that she couldn't take care of herself, she reminded him. She had been trained by Nawat in how to fight too after all. He smiled and nodded at her gentle admonition. He had known someone else who was constantly insisting he could do things "all by himself."

He decided to take a stroll around the palace and do an unofficial inspection of the Kin‒the Queen's Watch. As he passed the little stream of water‒now filled with decorative koi‒he remembered a small toy boat floating down it, and catching a small boy that might have fallen in after it. His inspection revealed his men to be in top form. He didn't really expect anything less, but it always paid to be sure. Except when being sure still did nothing.

As the day ended, he climbed to top of the palace walls. The sun was setting and reflecting beautifully off remarkably calm waters. He supposed that meant Mithros had made peace with his brother. Aly had told him how the Trickster had suggested the storm and how angry she was with him for it, but reminded him that the gods didn't see humans the same way they did. Dove had offered her condolences, saying she knew his pain since she had also lost her brother, but she still removed the statues of Mithros the Goddess from the palace in honor of Kyprioth .He supposed he should also make peace with the god, but as he regarded those still waters reflecting the sunset's red light, he could only see the soaked red satin worn by…. worn by a child who had the misfortune of being a king. He hadn't made his peace yet. He wondered if he ever would.

The title is from Wordworth's poem about the death of his three-year-old daughter, "Surprised By Joy-Impatient as the Wind"


End file.
